An outstanding movie director and a dedicated polaroid shooter Wim Wenders recently said that photography these days is dead more than ever. His point was that people take so many pictures that they don't even bother to look at them later, not even mention about printing these photographs out. It's hard to deny the fact, but still hearing words like these from that kind of person was quite depressing. Wender's statement made me think a lot and I would like to disagree with the master.
Being a member of various photography online communities I constantly see people do their best to put sense in pictures they create. Different genres, technics and gear items, but one thing that probably unites all of the shooters is willingness to put a soul in a work they create. Despite myriads of snaps on the go and social media madness, there is still a significant number of passionate geeks creating thoughtful content, so I believe it's a bit too early to pronounce photography dead.
What makes people to pick up camera in the first place and what was my reason when I did the same thing a number of years ago? Before getting that bug I was thinking that creating a good photograph takes a lot of expensive equipment, fancy studio and unreachable level of Photoshop skills. The day I discovered I was wrong blew my mind - chasing the light, the mood and the right composition became my everyday obsession and some kind of therapy. It's a such a great habit to have, because once you get it, you try to find attraction wherever you go and whatever you do.
Photography is an incredible thing because it's teaching you to look at the beautiful side of life and with each frame you are trying to bring a little bit more of delicacy into the world. I've tried few genres until discovered that people is the most interesting subject and you can tell a whole story about them using a visual language. Working on an editorial is like filming a movie which lasts 10-15 frames. Yes, it’s pretty limiting, but I believe limitation is the portal to something awesome. Dali said you'll never reach perfection, but you have all the time in the world for another attempt. I'm so glad that I have started this journey some time ago and despite all the doubts and even fear I keep making my attempts. Where it’s going to take me, time will tell.
